Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Prayer and the Church Junkie

We were supposed to already be in Italy by now, but Love Bug got a bad case of croup over the weekend and was "medically unstable" to fly. Please pray for her to feel better, sleep better (not just for her, but for our sake too!), and for a safe flight tomorrow.

But that's not really why I this blog entry is titled Prayer. I titled it that because of a little ritual I had while living in France for four years. Because we walked so much, and all over the city, I made it a point to stop, at least once a week, and take some time to pray. We're Catholic and the number of Catholic churches in France is incredible. It was easy to find lots of different churches, tucked away, that I had never seen before. In some sections of Paris, there was a church on every corner. I prayed at home and I prayed during Mass, but this was a special time set aside for prayer. It also allowed me to appreciate the city, the different sections, and a lot of history. After weeks of doing this, dragging my husband to yet another church that I "had read about", he dubbed me the Church Junkie.

One day during our first Spring in Paris, walking in the Latin Quarter, we walked into a beautiful church. It was built in the fourteenth century, had a beautiful sound as your voice echoed, and I just felt that I had been there before. I told my husband this and he looked at me like I was nuts. Moving to the back, I noticed this beautiful carved music stand and then I remembered. My college choir had sung here the summer after my junior year. I loved the trip, but our time in Paris was so short and I had lost the program that listed the church we had sung in. I told my husband all about the concert. At the end we sang some Gospel, and the French people who had come to listen were clapping and some cried, like they had never heard such amazing singing. I got so animated and excited just telling him about it.

I think he finally understood why I loved churches so much. You can feel the prayers going out, the happiness of weddings held there, and the joyful songs people sang, like my choir had sung. My husband isn't a Church Junkie like me, but I think he is ready to explore the beautiful churches of Rome with us. Hopefully he can hold Love Bug, so I can take a few moments for an extra special prayer each week.

I'm a wife, mother of two, and a musician. When I'm not making music, I love to read, go to the gym, and play with my kids. I'm from North Carolina, lived eight years overseas as an adult, and love to travel.